The Magic Mountain
by Thomas Mann

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Book Reviews of The Magic Mountain

Book Review: interesting, but not worth re-reading
Summary: 3 Stars

It is meant to be a novel about time, and how it passes. And that is certainly the best thing about it as a book, though some of Mann's pronouncements about the non-existence of the human body clock are somewhat silly.

It is meant to be an intellectual novel. Certainly a lot of it is taken up with intellectual debate. But the protagonists are defending blatantly false positions and defending them only by attacking the other's. Most of the time I just found those conversations annoying.

It is meant to be something of a satire on sanatoria , but much of the medicine is so stupid it is unbelievable. Maybe medical knowledge in the first decade of this century was that primitive, but I doubt it. There were moments of humour, but they were rare.

All in all, I found it an interesting book, but not worth re-reading.

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